News

In 2015, the First Minister conï¬Ārmed that the Scottish Government would be one of the ï¬Ārst anywhere in the world to commit to meeting the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development, both at home and overseas. Since then, all 193 UN member states have signed up to the 17 goals ...

The UPP Foundation Civic University Commission have released a new report this week, highlighting the role of universities as 'places of good'. The report makes some key recommendations, including a 'Civic University Agreement' - which 30 institutions committed to sustainabilit...

This week (11th-15th February 2019) is Go Green Week and we are celebrating all of the initiatives being held to raise awareness of sustainability across the UK and Ireland.
Aston University, University College Birmingham, Birmingham City University and Birmingham Metropolitan College, suppo...

Do you know anyone with the interest and capacity to help the EAUC-Scotland team develop their support for sustainability in Scotland’s Universities?
EAUC-Scotland are seeking a dedicated EAUC Member from the Higher Education Sector to join our Office Bearers Group (OBG), following the reti...

At the best of times the multi-dimensioned thing we call sustainability can be confusing. Not least the myriad of ever increasing performance improvement tools, quality standards and reporting accreditations, which aim to help, but often leave sustainability leaders feeling overwhelmed, and our coll...

Gain International Recognition - Make a Global Impact
Is your institution delivering world-class leadership in sustainability? Deadline 28 February.
Is it influencing and developing society and empowering its students to be agents of global change?
The UN Environment endorsed Intern...

Let's promote your Go Green Week activities!
Go Green Week (11th – 15th February) is next week and EAUC want to know what you are doing to celebrate! We will be promoting Climate Action (SDG 13) with examples of best practice and resources to support you in the mission to reduce c...

Nottingham Trent University has developed a way to embed miniaturised solar cells into yarn that can then be knitted and woven into textiles.
Clothing embedded with tiny solar cells the size of a flea can allow wearers to generate electricity on the move and charge items like mobile phones and sm...

Ministers and representatives of more than 60 countries, multilateral organisations, civil society, teaching, youth and the private sector alongside UNESCO as the UN lead Agency for education in the 2030 Agenda gathered in Brussels early this month, to seek consensus and strengthen the collect...

‘There is no Planet B, so there can be no Plan B’ – that was the message from Ban Ki-Moon last week at the 4th annual Asian Conference on Campus Sustainability. Alongside the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, EAUC CEO Iain Patton gave the key note speech for the secon...

EAUC-Scotland are running a new project to support institutions to embed sustainability within teaching courses, and we need your help!
Starting with four initial subject areas - economics, fine art, psychology and computer science - the project will consider the opportunitie...

The UK Climate Projections 2018 study has been released by the Met Office, providing the most up to date information on how the climate of the UK may change in the period up to the end of the 21st Century.
In the highest emissions scenario, which are looking likely based on current emission...

Queen's University Belfast became the first employer in the UK to achieve the Cycle Friendly Employer Accreditation and the first to achieve Gold Standard.
To gain this accreditation, the University had to demonstrate what measures are in place to show long-term commitment, support and ...

‘We believe that by working together we can build a future that is fair and just for all people, and a resilient and sustainable UK’
To mark the end of UK Inter Faith Week, religious leaders and faith-based organisations have come together in a letter to the Prime Minister to urge gre...

The Global University Employability Ranking, published by Times Higher Education (THE), has this week revealed that institutions promoting sustainability skills are much more likely to produce employable graduates.
This is a concept that the EAUC has espoused for a long-time, and has begun to tac...

The University of Leeds and Leeds University Union have together pledged to become single-use plastic-free by 2023.
Single-use plastic items are designed to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.
The campaign, Single Out: 2023PlasticFree, crucially commits the University an...

WWF launched an alarming report- Living Planet- looking at how exploding human consumption is the driving force behind the unprecedented planetary change we are witnessing, through the increased demand for energy, land and water.
The products we consume, the supply chains behind them, the m...

PhD research into topics such as growing soybean as a profitable, low-carbon crop will continue to thrive at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) following a donation of £2 million.
The RAU has received this research investment thanks to the John Oldacre Foundation, which supports ...

The Government announced yesterday in the Budget plans for a new tax on plastic packaging which contains less than 30% recycled plastic, subject to consultation.
What was announced?
To reduce the problem of excessive and environmentally harmful plastic packaging, and incentivise m...

On the 3rd October, Keele University launched its new major sustainability initiative, a cross-university research institute- the Institute for Sustainability Futures, structured around the SDGs and aiming to catalyse interdisciplinary research focused on contributing to a more sustainable futu...

The EAUC is today launching a new Guide that highlights the business benefits of sustainability and explains why it is key to the success of higher education institutions.
The Guide - ‘Sustainability: Key to Long-term Institutional Success’ - was developed by EAUC and the University o...

New Scottish Funding Council Outcome Agreement Guidance requires all universities and colleges to develop individual 'creative and innovative' approaches to demonstrate leadership in embedding environmental and social sustainability across the whole institution
In October...

The EAUC welcomes the Government plans, announced today (22 October), to ban the distribution and sale of plastic straws, drinks stirrers and cotton buds.
Subject to a consultation, also launched today, the Government is looking to ban the distribution and sale of these single-use plastic items b...

Vice-Chancellors from five UK universities and Students’ Union representatives met with the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Director General Julian Critchlow, and Office for Students CEO Nicola Dandridge to officially sign the Government’s Emissions R...

The Change Agents UK Charity is launching Grants for Good; funding of £100 to £500 is available to support University Societies and Departments delivering sustainability projects.
Beginning this month they hope to capture the creativity of students and staff alike, so find out if your...

The first stage of the 2018-2019 International Green Gown Awards are now open for applications.
Do you want to inspire and motivate your team, management and students to do more? The International Green Gown Awards, supported by UN Environment, recognise exceptional sustainability initiatives bei...

More and more candidates want to use their career to make a positive difference in the world. They want to work with organisations who think differently, operate responsibly and are forward-looking; employers with strong values that match their own. Jobs for Good enables you to access these candidat...

Do you know that the environmental profession is the second least diverse profession in the UK, after farming? This was revealed in a Policy Exchange report.
EAUC are contributing to research being undertake by NUS, IEMA and the Equality Trust to investigate the racial diversity ...

Here is an update following the AGM. As you may be aware we went to the AGM asking for members to vote on a name change. In order for this to be successful we required, by Company Law, to achieve 75% of those voting. The result was 72% so this was not passed.
The Board needed time to reflec...

In September 2018 two updates were issued on Scottish Government action on climate change. A report from The Committee on Climate Change gives us an insight into progress so far and the Scottish Government have released a Climate Change Plan summary that gives us an insight into the future of g...

We know that all too often, sustainability sits in a Facilities and Estates silo on campuses and it can be hard to engage with other departments in UK Further and Higher Education institutions. We also know that for sustainability to flourish, it needs to be embedded holistically and everyone needs ...

Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has just launched a new sustainability and wellbeing behaviour change programme, known as ARUgreen. Operated by Green Rewards through its JUMP engagement platform, the ARUgreen pilot is for six months and covers 700 employees initially of ARU’s total 18,000 emplo...

University College Cork (UCC) has had a hugely impressive sustainability start to the new academic year already. This week they have opened Ireland's first plastic-free café and been announced as the first and only institution awarded a gold rating under the of t...

The University of Exeter's Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) has released a new Green Guide for laboratories.
Laboratories should be on the frontline of cutting-edge technology related to energy saving and reduced use of resources - and so this guide has been formulated to help ...

Businesses take the lead to drive down UK’s annual £20 billion food waste bill, equivalent to more than £300 per UK citizen.
All major retailers and 50% of larger food businesses to Target-Measure-Act and report on food waste by September 2019.
90 organisations&nbs...

Salix Finance are pleased to announce the dates and venues for the 2018 Colleges workshops. The workshops will run from late October to November at locations across England.
Thursday 25th October - Lewisham Southwark College
Friday 2nd November - Leeds City College &n...

University College Cork's Bio Green Cafe is Ireland's first plastic-free restaurant.
Plastic drink bottles have been removed from the café, replaced with glass bottles and cans. Plastic sachets have been removed and replaced with reusable crockery containers. Chocolat...

EAUC are launching a new webinar series to celebrate Global Goals Week!
'A cup of tea and an SDG' will be 5 webinars, one a day at 11am between 24th - 28th September. They will be 15 minutes in length and presenters will have just 2 minutes to outline an initiative they have undertaken ...

Coinciding with the global Zero Emission Vehicles Summit held in Birmingham on Tuesday, the Aldersgate Group has launched a new briefing, 'Driving ambition: accelerating the transition to zero emission vehicles', setting out key business recommendations for rapidly cutting ...

Rootability have launched a new, free Green Office Model Online Course.
The course is for students and staff who want to establish a sustainability office - based on the Green Office Model - in less time and in a more effective way. Unlike establishing your Green Office alone, you learn from...

Adding value to society, the economy and the environment - are you aware of just how much universities contribute?
This excellent video from BUFDG shares some really important information.
The aim of the video is to help the sector communicate to those beyond about what universities are, what ...

Congratulations to the winners of the Collaborative Awards for Teaching Excellence 2018 delivered by Advance HE.
The Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) recognises and rewards collaborative work that has had a demonstrable impact on teaching and learning. Introduced in 2016, the sc...

The National Union of Students (NUS) have published their 8th annual Sustainability Skills research report. This includes perspectives on sustainability in education from students studying in the UK in both higher and further education.
This year’s research shows student expecta...

After a successful pilot, the University of Strathclyde is rolling out its sustainability and wellbeing engagement programme to all of its employees this October.
The programme, known as JUMP, was launched in February 2018 to a pilot audience of 250 employees at the University. JUMP is an interac...

The hunt for the best student and graduate business ideas has officially launched, with £10,000 and other money can’t buy opportunities to get your hands on.
NACUE has partnered with Tata for another year to fuel fantastic ideas with their national business pitching competition.
Th...

We're always delighted to hear about new partnerships that are making positive change. Read below about the recent partnership to reuse PCs from Edinburgh Napier University.
In an initiative also involving input from Procurement, Information Services and Environmental Sustainability, the Sch...

Huge strides have been taken towards further embedding sustainability in schools, faculties and services at the University.
The University’s Annual Sustainability Report highlights the many success stories achieved during the past 12 months.
This year, Leeds has linked its appr...

Dr Nicola Cannon, Principal Lecturer in Agronomy at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) explains why the 2018 heatwave will have long-term consequences for crops and livestock nutrition with farmers having to reach into winter reserves of food and forage:
"The extreme heat and very...

Bournemouth University (BU) has seen improvements to sustainability and wellbeing at the University after introducing the Green Rewards behaviour change programme to all staff.
The programme was rolled out to all staff in January this year (2018), after a successful six month pilot in 2017 ...

The National Union of Students (NUS) has worked with Friends of the Earth to find out more about students' views on eating meat.
Commonly cited as one relatively easy way to reduce carbon emissions, reducing your meat consumption has long been a topical discussion point. NUS and F...